Rafael Nadal Beats Djokovic to Win Record 7th French Open

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Rafael Nadal sank to his knees on the clay and cried after a double fault ended Novak Djokovic's run in major tennis tournaments and handed the Spaniard a record seventh men's French Open title.

The 26-year-old Nadal, who lost the previous three Grand Slam finals to Djokovic, won 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in a match that was delayed for rain twice and played over two days.

Nadal climbed into his box, embracing friends and family members including his uncle and long-time coach, Toni Nadal, after Djokovic's fourth double fault ended the match.

"It's very emotional, probably one of the most special moment in my career," said Nadal, who was given the trophy by former champion Mats Wilander of Sweden. "To have this trophy with me is something unforgettable."

Nadal has now won 11 major singles titles, tying him with Sweden's Bjorn Borg and Australia's Rod Laver. Only Roger Federer of Switzerland (16), Pete Sampras of the U.S. (14) and Roy Emerson of Australia (12) have won more. It was Nadal's first major championship since he tied Borg with six titles in Paris last year.

"I'm very privileged to be in this position, my first time in a Roland Garros final," Djokovic, a right-hander from Serbia, said at the trophy ceremony. "I enjoyed this match very much, but Rafa was the better player."

Djokovic, who is ranked No. 1, beat the left-hander at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, and would have been the first man to hold all four majors since Laver swept the titles in 1969. Laver, who also all four majors in 1962, and American Don Budge in 1938 are the only men to win four in a row in one calendar year. Serena Williams held four majors at the same time by winning in Melbourne in 2003.

Spin Returns

Play restarted today shortly after 1 p.m., with Nadal down a break in the fourth set. He broke Djokovic in the first game after the resumption with a backhand passing and held serve at love, able to place spin on his shots again on the drier court. The pair then stayed on serve as rain showers mixed with sunny spells.

At the start of the match yesterday, Nadal controlled play for the first hour as less than half of Djokovic's first serves landed inside the service box. This allowed the Spaniard to dictate the rallies off his opponent's second serve with his heavy topspin forehand.

Unable to crack Nadal's defense from the baseline, Djokovic smashed a hole in his bench after losing serve to go 4-3 down in the second set. After being given a warning by chair umpire Damien Dumusois, play was suspended because of rain for 34 minutes, with Nadal leading 5-3 in the second set.

Djokovic Emotion

During the break, Djokovic slammed the door to the trainers' room shut while Nadal used the extra time to have his racket re-strung.

Things didn't immediately improve for Djokovic after the rain delay, during which his on-court green bench was replaced with a new one. Nadal took a two-set lead with a sliding backhand passing shot and also won the first two games of the third set.

Down two sets and a break in the third, Djokovic turned the match around as the rain intensified. With three-quarters of his first serves now landing in, Djokovic stood on the baseline thumping ground strokes as he rattled off six games in a row to win his first set against Nadal at Roland Garros.

Nadal Struggles

The heavier conditions affected Nadal's head and play, as it became increasingly difficult to put his customary spin on the soggy balls. Throughout the third set, he frequently asked the chair umpire if play should continue.

At the start of the fourth set, Nadal lost a 45-stroke rally with a backhand into the net. He finally held serve in the third game, ending a run of eight games for Djokovic. With Djokovic leading 2-1 in the fourth set, play was stopped for the day.

Nadal has frequently struggled with injuries. After narrowly losing the longest Grand Slam final in history -- 5 hours, 53 minutes -- to Djokovic in Melbourne at the start of the season, he took February off to recover from a shoulder injury. Although Nadal struggled with a recurrence of knee tendinitis in March, he'd regained his form on clay this spring in Europe.

The second-seeded Spaniard ended a seven-match losing streak against Djokovic on clay courts in Monte Carlo and Rome. He's won 35 clay-court titles, the most of anyone currently playing on the ATP World Tour. Borg won 30 tournaments on the surface before he retired at the age 26 in 1983.

Agassi Praise

Before Roland Garros, 1999 French Open champion Andre Agassi called Nadal the "Mount Everest" of the slow red clay courts.

Nadal reached the finals in Paris having dropped only 35 games, the fewest since Borg lost 31 games in the first six matches in 1980.

Djokovic's route to the final wasn't as straightforward. He came back from two sets down in the fourth round against Italy's Andreas Seppi and saved four match points in the quarterfinals against France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He beat Federer in the semifinals.

Against Nadal, he made 53 unforced errors and dropped his serve three times on a double fault. Nadal had 29 errors and 34 winners, five less than Djokovic.

--Editors: Christopher Elser, Larry Siddons.